Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.
I suppose I should address that last chapter was uploaded on the day the story began. I honestly don't have much to say other then "Do not worry this story will not take until the end of the year." This chapter and chapter 24 I'll state are the only chapters I really have to put a lot of effort into. After chapter 24, 25-29 are mostly cut scenes. I will have to put some distinguishable effort to certain things, but Chapter 25, 26, the first half of 27, the last half of 28, and 29 are pretty much just scenes from the game. They are the final stretch and they won't be long. I cannot say I'd be done by the end of August, but it will not be much longer considering I will have to write Chapters 27-30 all at the same time. My goal by the end of August is to get to Chapter 25. I'm gunning hard for it which is why this chapter and the next are being heavily devoted to to be put out. This one a week after the last and the next one by the end of August. So, now onto this chapter which will check in on are friends called Ayase and Reiji. Can you smell the shoe-horning? I can. I kinda forced my hand in the situation, but the thing is, there are holes in the ground in Deva Yuga that drop you to lower floors which is why I went with it. Add a dividing wall trap and I was set. So knowing my patterns by now you can probably guess why I separated these two apart from anyone else. But do not worry. These are not vivid flashbacks we're gonna see. They are basic and faint. We are basically done with depthful flashback breaks away. They are predictable to the situation which is why I mixed them up for these two. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Three.
Chapter Twenty Three: Deva Yuga Part 2 Metatron & Alice
Yuka Ayase pushed her legs to her bust, sitting firmly on the ground. She ran her fingers through her pigtails, attempting to steady her self. She was frightened, enclosed, and alone. The wrong combination for a autophobic.
Her whip was strewn about, much like her mindset. She murmured to herself trying to refrain from crying or screaming. She had dealt with small dosages of being by herself throughout her life. When she slept in her room was to her the only period that came forth when she remembered the times. She disliked the dark, the vacant room when the lights went down. It was not nyctophobia or claustrophobia because she wasn't afraid of the dark or the emptiness, she was afraid of her by herself in the dark and emptiness. Shutting her eyes to her surroundings helped her to sleep, helped the anxiety pass.
Ayase crunched her lids closed, her arms hugging herself. Tremors ran throughout her flesh. The open area was quiet, she thought in her own darkness caused by her blackened sight. She couldn't hear the others on the other side of the wall; she couldn't hear Brown.
Brown was the center of her attention. He had saved her; he had taken the attack for her. She wanted him here. She wanted to thank him if just for the second. She missed his hand, squeezing it always made her feel better. She felt less lonely. His touch reminded her, he stood next to her, reminded the anxiety to leave, reminded her fakeness to drop. She never would have thought such things about Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi before the days that had come.
Ayase was out of earshot and speaking-shot of communication and understanding as to what was going on on either side of the wall. Her hearing began to zone out with her eyes; she was in a daze. She was in her own world, imagining she was with everyone else, imagining she was holding Brown's hand, imagining her world was back to normal.
"CHILD NAMED YUKA AYASE, I AM THE METATRON, THE VOICE OF GOD!"
The angelic and mechanical voice jostled Ayase in every sense. Her dreams were sent away at her awakening. She scrambled to stand, now in the presence of a man of giant proportions. His metallic blonde locks were crafted to seem finely combed to the left and right; the remainder tucked above his steel ears and rest bolted to his neck like a mullet. His face was wrinkled with built-in creases, his jade glass shades for vision and his puffy blonde eyebrows furrowed along with the joints of his skull. The majority of his body was stainless steel and blatantly robotic. Each and every joint displayed gears and springs. The outlined armored appendages creaked with movement. The mere fabric of clothing tied to the robotic Metatron was a white toga, strapped across his torso, letting a minor view of his steel chiseled abs to peak at Ayase. The fabric was tied to his waist, drooping his spring-loaded ankles, decorated with a holy crucifix. The last component to the prophetic and grandiose machine were his wings. They consisted of two line rakes in the design of unraveled papyrus; the twenty six chrome feathers, bladed as bastard swords, jutted from them.
Ayase choked on her thoughts to the appearance of a presence such as Metatron. She had no idea who the robot angel hovering before he was other then his name, but his aura was ambrosial, unearthly, ethereal. Her body felt holy in his own hallowed existence. This ecstasy was soon dimmed and ceased when her own mentality returned.
"SPEAK WORDS, YUKA AYASE, I WISH TO JUDGE YOUR SOUL IF I AM FORCED TO DO THE BIDDING OF TAKAHISA KANDORI!"
"What the fucking hell are you talking about and who the hell are you?!" She demanded.
"I WILL NOT TOLERATE FOUL AND VULGAR SPEECH IN THE PRESENCE OF THE VOICE OF GOD, YUKA AYASE! THAT IS WHO I AM YUKA AYASE, THE METATRON, THE VOICE OF THE ONE TRUE GOD!"
"Huh?! Like, what does that mean?! If your supposed to be the voice of god, why are you here trying to kill me?! Or like, judge me then kill me?! Why can't you leave me alone?!"
"YUKA AYASE, YOU ARE A PERSONA USER. YOU INTERACT RARELY WITH THE TRUTH OF DEMON AND ANGEL KIND. THE TRUTH OF MAKAI AND THE CONCEPTION. WASTING MY PRESCIOUS DIALECT AND BREATH ON A HUMAN CHILD IS A WASTE. I PERSONALLY FIND YOU USERS PHILEMON HAS BROUGHT UPON OUR WORLD AS DETESTABLE AS LUCIFER'S HITOSHURA OR AS THE HUMANS INTERUPT IT AS DEMI-FIEND (A/N). FINDING SOMETHING AS DETESTABLE AS THE MORNING STAR'S SPAWN IS A DIFFICULT TASK, YUKA AYASE!"
"OH MY GOD! You're confusing the hell outta me! Like, make sense, jackass! What the hell is a Demi-fiend, what the hell is Makai or the Conception! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"TAKE THE LORD'S NAME IN VAIN AGAIN GIRL AND I'll SMITE YOU AND NOT CONTINUE THIS IDLE CHATTER. I CAN PERCEIVE YOU ARE NOT INTELLECTUALY CAPABLE AS A RACE TO GRASP THE CONCEPTS OF MAKAI OR HELL OR HEAVEN. I WILL ENLIGHTEN YOU WITH A DETAIL REGARDING MY EXISTENCE HERE BECAUSE IT WILL ENLIGHTEN YOU AS TO THE FUNCTION OF YOUR OWN FRACTURE OF POWER YOU CALL PERSONA."
"Are you kidding me-" Ayase's inattentive raving to the godly guardian was cut short.
"YOU SHALL RELAX YOUR OWN TONGUE AND LISTEN WITH INTENT FOR MINE, CHILD! THE WORDS I SHALL SPEAK AND YOU SHALL LISTEN TO ARE MY PARTING GRACES FOR YOU TO TAKE TO WHERE EVER YOU SHALL GO IN THE NEXT LIFE! I STAND BEFORE YOU AS A VESSEL OF THE POWERS OF METATRON! THE VESSEL OF MY POWER OCCUPIED IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF KANDORI! IN MAKAI WHICH IS THE DEMON WORLD TO YOU HUMANS, HEAVEN, HELL, PURGATORY, AND EVEN EARTH RESTS MANY ANGELS AND DEMONS! THE ORIGINALS OF WHAT YOU MORTALS REGARD AS MYTHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES IN OUR GLORY AND POWER! OUR POWER CAN BE REPLICATED IN A MEAGER FRACTION IF A REPLICA OR VESSEL IS BROUGHT UPON BY ANOTHER OR BY THEIR OWN WILL! AN EXAMPLE OF A REPLICA IS MYSELF AND THE HUANG LONG IN THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS ROOM! WE ARE NOT THE ORIGINAL HUANG LONG AND METATRON! WE ARE DUPLICATION CREATED WITH KANDORI'S MAGIC! HUANG LONG WAS CREATED TO AVENGE HIS BRETHREN AND I WAS CREATED TO COMMAND THE ANGELS TO KANDORI'S ARMY! THOUGH WE ARE REPLICAS IN THOUGHT WE HOLD THE EXPERIENCE, THE MEMORIES, AND THE POWER OF THE ORIGINAL EXCEPT WE HAVE TWO FAULTS! THE FIRST IS OUR POWER IS NOT FULLY CHANNELED THROUGH THIS VESSEL! THE PERSONAS YOU USERS CARRY MAY HOLD A DEMON, GOD, OR ANGEL AT YOUR CALL BUT THEY ARE A NOT THE TRUE GOD, DEMON, OR ANGEL ONLY A REPRESENTATION WITH A PIECE OF THEIR OWN POWER TO AID YOU! THE SECOND FAULT IS THE VESSEL CREATED IS AT THE BIDDING OF WHO HAS SUMMONED IT! THIS ALSO IS INTWINED WITH YOUR PERSONAS! THEY ARE YOU, YES! THEY HAVE THE REPRESENTATION OF THE POWER OF THE ORIGINAL, BUT THEY MUST YIELD TO YOU! THE POWER OF THE DUBLICATION HAS RARELY GONE BERSERK!"
Ayase sighed, playing with her hair again. She had stopped paying attention. "Yeah, uh-huh, that's, like, totally interesting. Really though I don't get what you are saying."
"YOUR CALLOUS ACTIONS AND WORDS REFLECT UPON YOU POORLY YUKA AYASE! MY SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE HAS BORED YOU! IT HAS DULLED YOUR SENSES! I WILL EXPLAIN AGAIN AND PRECEDE WITH WHAT KANDORI HAS ORDERED ME TO! I AM A DUPLICATE OF THE REAL METATRON OF HEAVEN! THOUGH I AM A DUPLICATE I HOLD EVERYTHING ELSE THE REAL VOICE OF GOD HAS INCLUDING HIS SENSE OF IDENTITY! THE ONLY THING I LACK IS MY OWN FREEWILL, I HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY THE REPLICATION CREATOR, TAKAHISA KANDORI, TO KILL WHOEVER REACHES THIS FLOOR FROM THIS SIDE OF THE ROOM! THE OTHER THING I LACK IS THE FULL POTENTIAL AND POWER OF THE TRUE METATRON! THIS EXACT METHOD AND REASONING APPLIES TO YOU PERSONA USERS!"
Ayase twirled her hair, speaking to Metatron candidly. "Uh-huh, really? I'm sorry, you bored me again. Can you like, explain it again for me pretty please?"
"This is not your brightest moment is it. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, YOU IDIOT!" A cute, feminine voice exclaimed in her mind.
"Huh?!"
"YUKA AYASE, YOU INSULT THE VOICE OF GOD WITH YOUR BEHAVIOR! HAVE YOU NO SHAME! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN A HORRENDOUS DEMON, CHILD! YOU BARK ORDERS TO THE METATRON! YOU TAKE THE LORD'S NAME IN VAIN! YOU SPEAK IN A SUCH AN UNGUARDED TONE! YOU SICKEN ME, YUKA AYASE! MY JUDGEMENT IS COMPLETE! HERE I HOPED THE MORTALS I NEED TO SEND TO THE AFTERLIFE WOULD BE ABLE TO RELEASE MY POWER FROM THIS VESSEL! TO RELEASE MY POWER FROM BEING USED BY KANDORI'S EVIL HANDS! I WAS MISTAKEN! PREPARE TO MEET THE MORNING STAR!" Metatron shot his hands up to a level line.
"I'm gonna die! I can't fight him! I can't win! Not by myself! I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I can't move! I can't move! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
"I'm gonna be frank her, self! You are the stupidest Magician Arcana I have ever been associated with! How we're alike I have no idea! We're probably both incredibly blunt…or because we're virgins! Either way, I hope you're happy! You pissed off the voice of YHVH! You are royally screwed because of your big mouth!"
"LIKE, LOOKS WHOSE TALKING?! AND NOW WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"Might wanna avoid your eventual sentencing to eternal damnation, self? If you insist, I'm Hori! I am you! I'd hoped you'd realize this, especially when you had a conversation with your friends about this two hours ago!"
"FIRES OF SINAI!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Wake up, self! You need to see this! Metatron is going to kill you soon if we don't finish this up!"
"Like, huh?" Ayase rubbed her eyes of sleep, rising up in unfamiliar surroundings. Hori in her flaming bikini and skirt was taping her foot on a sprung floor for dancing. "Where are we? Like, what happened?"
"This is your soul, deary. This is where I get to live when I'm not out in the field. Homey ain't it."
Ayase examined the sea of her soul. It was a four-wall room, the whole floor was a sprung floor, buffed and waxed. Behind Hori was a wall made of a mirror with a rail mounted to it. "It's a dance studio? Why else would I have a rail and mirror? Like, it's been years since I danced."
The wall to her left was a line of hanging clothing consisting of Ayase's blue jacket, her school uniform, a push-up bra, a sweat drenched cotton white t-shirt, a blue leotard, and ballet tutu made of pink tulle. A curtain bed was placed below the clothing, a scared silhouette clutching itself inside the blocking fabric. "Those clothes…they're my size. Like, my soul, has my clothes. Is that…was…my bed. I hated those curtains as a kid. Like, is that's who inside there? Is it a memory of me? Like, is this for real?"
The third wall was the oddest. It held a propped up cardboard figure of Ayase herself. It was her as she was dressed now, but her face was painted with various colors to prevent you from seeing any of her true features. Next to the figure was a dresser. A picture frame of Ayase and her mother and father rested there. Her face was cut out from her body. Besides the family picture was a row of tiny frames that were aligned to the edge. Eight of them were pictures of Naoya, Masao, Kei, Eriko, Yukino, Maki, Reiji, and Brown. Brown's frame was bleeping with LEDs attached to the frame. The last five were of Tsutomu, Yosuke and Chisato hugging each other, a black haired boy with spectacles arguing with a pixie cut brunette, a corpulent boy bowing his drooping, depressed face, and the last photo was of the timid and shy Yuko, the purple locked friend of Maki, who was aiming her stare at the floor.
"Like, I know all of them. I think there's more smaller ones there to. Like, I don't know those guys."
"Just thought I let you know, self. Thoughts are announced in your soul and if you want to fix, you know, pissing off the Metatron, you might wanna look over her!" Hori pointed to the last wall, a rip in the room that acted as a flickering television screen tuned in to Ayase's beaten form laying thoroughly wounded on the ground of the ninth floor of Deva Yuga. Metatron was hovering to her, his eyes firing lasers at her lifeless body. The contact of the laser beams created geyser of colossal fire and energy which bombarded her.
"AH!" Ayase felt surges of affliction and convulsion. "That, like, hurts!"
"Really, now? Never would guessed the Fires of Sinai, Metatron's signature manner of attack would hurt that much! You're lucky it's part fire damage. My repel effect is the singular thing keeping us alive."
"Wait, like, huh?!"
"STOP SAYING HUH! I brought your consciousness here for a reason. Normally were not allowed to tell you out right how to resolve and evolve your Persona but since I can tell you are the bleachiest blonde in the tanning bed, I'm gonna give you a hand out."
"Like, wha-?"
"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DO NOT RESOLVE IN HERE!"
"Like, what Brown and the others did before?"
"Yes! Like I said I'm breaking rules right now, but since I hoped you actually want to live I brought your consciousness her to the sea of your soul to help you resolve. Time outside is still gonna flow normally, so we have minutes for the internal stimulation to take effect."
"Internal, what?"
"LOOK AT THE PHOTOS! LOOK AT THE ROOM, PLEASE! It symbolizes you! Understand why and reach a conclusion. Face a problem, come to a realization. Set a new goal in life. Based on what you see in this room, your soul, you should be able to conclude in a positive manner and the room will change in accordance to your revelation. I'll evolve. You'll resolve and you won't die. You don't want to die, right?"
"Like, yeah, I don't wanna die!"
"Then embrace your Magician Arcana and reach a revelations. That's why I brought you here."
"Like, I will, but why are you-"
"Are you a woman who plays by the rules, Yuka Ayase. Since I'm not and I'm your Persona, self, chances are I'll speed up the process you would naturally need to go through to succeed here. Your other friend's Personas have done it. Nemain and Vesta have showed memories to there users, I've brought you into your soul because shuffling memories in your head takes to long when dealing with Metatron and your learning capacity refutes the idea to show you images at subliminally speeds. So, you have to search for a confliction in your soul and resolve the internal stimulation. Watch the photos, think of your fear. The rest is up to you."
"Okay, but-"
"Do not say you don't understand or weren't paying attention!"
"Like, fine! I'll do it!" Ayase turned to the photos, Hori turning herself to the riff to see Metatron procrastinate in finishing her.
"I have no clue what to do, damn it! She said watch the photos and think of my fear! My fear of being alone! What do the photos have to do with that? They're Naoya, Kei, Masao, Maki, Yukino, Eriko, and Brown, what do they have to do with it! Why does Brown have lights? Are these the important ones? They're bigger than the rest. Why is my face gone? She says it symbolizes my soul. Like, is this suppose to mean I have no true face. No, I don't show my true face to anyone, except for Brown. My fear dominates me and I lied, borrowed, and stealed to find those asshole friends. I can see there faces on those teeny-tiny ones. They didn't care about me, they left me to die when that demon attacked me and the main reason I was there was because THEY wanted to smoke. So, if they're there, these photos have to be relationships I have, right? That makes sense, but what is the important stuff. If the biggest ones don't relate, because I don't show any of them my true face except for Brown and maybe Eriko. What does it mean? DAMN IT! I hate being blonde!"
"In reality, being blonde is a stereotype. You're just an airhead who is incredibly blunt, self."
"Blunt? Me? I say what's on my mind. Wait!" Ayase forgot the pictures of her battle companions and strayed to the remaining five. "Tsutomu and Yosuke and Chisato, we technically helped all of them, right? That's why they're big, but the last two are different. Tadashi Satomi and Tamaki Uchida are yelling at each other over dumb things. Why does this relate to me? I mean I have a lot of classes with them, but, like, we don't talk. Like, I think I sat at there table at lunch too. They are always arguing over Satoshi Pharmacy and how Tamaki says so many weirdo things about demons and how she used to summon them and stuff. They always call each other stupid names too. I think they used to call on me to decide who was right and wrong. Like I care about what they're saying."
"WINK! WINK! WINK!"
"Like, stop! I'm concentrating!"
"Why did I ever agree to do this?"
"The last one's Kenta Yokouchi, we always call him Toro or Chunky because of how fat he is. He never seems to mind so I call him it. I think we, like, played Persona together. Yeah, a group of people did it as a dare after school and Toro was one of the Rumormongers (A/N) to spread the rumor after we did it. Then, he became freaky, saying Butterfly-sama said he was important. Is he an idiot? Like, a fatty like him could be important. Then he had the nerve to ask ME out on a date. He was all confident and bowed and kissed my hand with his disgusting chapped lips and asked me in this ridiculous stutter if I'D go out with him. I told him liked I go out with a fat-ass blob like him. I don't remember when he did it, but I heard he cried."
"WINK! NUDGE! NUDGE! WINK!"
"Stop it!"
"You've got five minutes from the looks of it. Metatron is giving you last rights or just lecturing you on your foulmouth and stupidity."
"Yuko is next to Toro. I thought he was the last one. Yuko always was a mouse. She would never say a word and we had clean-up duty together. So, I had her do all the work, because I knew she had no guts to say otherwise and when we had to seal the hole to the gym I had her carry all the boxes, because I knew she wouldn't say no. What do these four have in common? I was a total bitch to them, I guess. Yeah, I didn't pay attention to Tamaki and Tadashi, I made Yuko do my work, and I verbally abused Chunky, yikes, I mean Kenta. It's just how I am. Eriko was nice enough to not tell it to me to my fake face. She decided to hang with me some times because she didn't mind I was a stuck a bitch. She's a decent person, I can say that. Brown was my partner in crime on a lot of pranks and rumors. We were the ambiguously disastrous duo. It was awesome, but I never ever felt anything for him. Is it because, I took advantage of him before. Is this guilt? Is that why I want to be close to him? Is that why I showed him my true face? Showed him my fear. My fear of being alone is gone when I'm with people of course, but I'm afraid to show people my true face because I'm afraid of being alone or rejected. That's why I rejected Kenta, I was afraid of people thinking I was gross for being with him. That's why I didn't pay attention to Tamaki and Tadashi, because I was afraid my fake friends would think I was weird and leave me if I talked to them. That's why I rode Yuko, because she was weak and I was stepping on her like my fake friends would. I did it all for those cigarette smoking dicks and bitches and they left me to fucking die and be eaten by that monster! They saved there own damned skin, put their tails between their ball-less legs and ran when I was in trouble. They didn't even go for help. Naoya, Eriko, and Yukino had to save me. I had to awaken to my Persona ability. I had to be loyal to them and follow them to repay for saving my life and now I'm here: ready to die with the end of all humanity at stake and I can't solve my own soul. I'm a terribly person, I am a horrible person. I've wronged those four, I ruined Kenta and Yuko because of those bastards I called friends. It took me until my true life's last moment and humanity ready to be wiped out for me to find myself. For me to realize, I was a completely and total idiot for doing the things I've done for years. I let my fear, the anxiety control me and I did wrong things to the wrong people. I can't stand for myself anymore! I want to live! I want to live to change myself! I want to apologize to them, I want them to try to forgive me for my pretentious behavior. I want them to see my true face. All of them. I can't fear rejection from others, it's part of living. I may have to live with the fear of being alone all my life, but I'll fight it. I'll beat it, because I know at least one person chose to stay by my side when I did."
"Bingo!"
Ayase touched Brown's photo, witnessing the LEDs and his smiling grin. "He saved me. I have to thank him. I have to tell him what I can. I can't die knowing Yuko, Kenta, Tadashi, Tamaki, and everyone else thinking of me being a hoity-toity, pretentious bitch in the end of humanity. I have to apologize. I have to! If I can survive this! If we can stop this! I promise myself, I promise any body listening that I'll change, I won't allow my fear rule me. I'll show everyone my true face!"
"Revelation complete! You go girl!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"YUKA AYASE, YOU HAVE AWAKENED! I'M AFRAID YOUR DEATH IS ASSURED! I CAN SENSE THE AURA OF YOUR PERSONA, IT CANNOT COMPARE TO MINE!"
Ayase picked up her whip, her bleeding knees buckling. Her socks and jacket were torn in segments. She rolled the whip leisurely.
"HAS YOU BLASPHEMOUS MOUTH ACCEPTED ITS FATE AS WELL!"
"Like, hell no!" Ayase unraveled the whip in a wave of her wrist, a velvet mist consuming her. "I wanna live!" She lashed her whip and reclined her head with her weakened forearms."HERE, PERSONY!"
A shatter was heard in Ayase's mind. "Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of the Magician! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated action, initiative, and self-confidence! Thou hast earned her Ultimate Magician! Hori hast become Freyr, God of the Sun and Rain!"
Hori performed a pirouette, her fire bikini and hula skirt deluging, leaving her bare and spinning. The flames shaded the gamboling maiden, capturing her in an egg of fire. Herculean biceps and knuckles of tanned tone burst from the egg. Matching legs and thighs of deftness freed themselves next. The flames blanketing, unfolded and extinguished, a well-toned triceps and ribs and a sandy blonde scruffy beard and flowing back-length hair arrived to Metatron. The God of Sun and Rain stood prominently a maroon cape and loin rippling. Tucked into the loincloth was a scabbard of a claymore, embedded with garnets and spinals.
"YOU HAVE RESOLVED YUKA AYASE! IN A SHORT TIMEFRAME IS IMPRESSIVE BUT A FALSE IDOL CANNOT DEFEAT THE METATRON!"
Ayase's pigtails broke free from their ties, the velvet mist bustling her strands. Her bangs fell in her eyes, shadowing them. She flipped her hair and glared at the artificial lenses the Voice of God used for his Fires of Sinai. "FREYR! Let's show him the power of the sun!"
Freyr's held his scabbard horizontal, gripping the handle of the claymore. "Yes, Mistress!"
"SANDASU (A/N)!" The two exclaimed at once, Freyr drawing his sword and shooting gouts and veins of ardent flames at the machine. The streaks and globs of fire cavorted around Metatron until Freyr and Ayase's call.
"AGIDYNE SORAROZU (A/N)!" Freyr slashed his claymore, controlling the fire. The gout pounced and tackled Metatron into the dividing wall, the searing flames smelting his armor. The veins interconnected and a novel-esque circle, each streak following the other in baroque ovals and seed patterns. The mass of fire and streams compressed together to become a molten comet of lava. The smoldering rock of compacted heat, fire, and magma flattened Metatron against the divider wall.
Freyr stabbed his claymore two-handed into the ground. "SETTINGU SANROZU (A/N)!" The meteor exploded, a sloshing vortex of lava swallowing the angel and the marble wall, disintegrating them into a steam and cooked hissing mess of sprockets, gears, and a bone-metal exoskeleton. The marble was condemned and destroyed with the Settingu Sanrozu and Metatron's sparking and melted-in face was embroidered with carved roses, the lava deliberately exsiccated at his spilled deliquesce iron splashed with the marble puddle. His joints and metallic armor were useless to the extraordinary temperature and impact of the comet. It melted the robotic Voice from chaise to the mechanical guts and structure to maintain YHVH's servant and throat.
Ayase limped and stumbled, avoiding the shambles left of Metatron. She was hoping to see her friends alive and Kohryu gone. When she reached the area, she fell to a corner, Brown laying flat, wounded heavily. Everyone else was laying face-down she noted. Kohryu was a mess of gilded liquidized flesh and scales now.
"Brown! Brown! Wake up! This is no time for joking!" She shook him.
"COME ON! REIJI! YOU DICK! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE THOSE PILLS!" She looked to find the jack-ass herself. "Where the hell are you?! I can't heal them! MAKI! MAKI!" The ribbon-wearing girl refused to stir and Ayase was ready to lose consciousness again.
"COME ON! PLEASE, YOU GUYS! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" She used the full capacity of her lungs to scream, but the Persona Users were done, ravaged by the might of the Four Signs techniques and Kohryu's Celestial Ray.
"PLEASE! WAKE UP! IT CAN'T END HERE! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!" Ayase was congested, tears flowing at her helplessness. "ANSWER ME! Please…" She shut her eyes again, to see the blackness. She'd lost too much blood, they'd all lost too much blood. Without healing they would lay there on the pure stone and fill it with crimson.
"I AGREE YUKA AYASE, IT CANNOT END HERE!"
Ayase relieved her eyes to witness a ghastly version of the Seraphim, Metatron, devoid of his vessel's size, and lacking his body below his shoulders. He was not corporeal. He was intangible and seemed to Ayase close to disappearing. "LIKE, HUH?!"
"DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF YUKA AYASE! I HAVE YET TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTIONS! YOU'VE FREED MY POWERS FROM THE EVIL OF TAKAHISA KANDORI! I SHALL GRANT YOU A GIFT TO CARRY ON IN THIS PRESENT, YUKA AYASE AS THANKS AND GRACES BEFORE I DEPART!" Metatron angled his arms and they shot up. "SALVATION!"
Halos of glorious light went over all eight of the party, healing and reviving them, erasing their wounds and received damage. Ayase jerked her repaired jacket. "Why did you-"
"MY VESSEL DUPLICATE WAS BOUND TO DO KANDORI'S BIDDING! I TRULY DO DETEST YOU PERSONA USERS BUT IF MAN FALLS HER THERE WILL BE NO ONE WHO CAN STOP KANDORI'S AMBITIONS! US SERAPHIM AND ANGELS CAN ONLY STRIKE TO TAKE THIS WORLD WHEN IT IS THE LORD'S WILL! IF I AM INTERFERRING WITH THE MASTER PLAN SO BE IT! IT IS MY THANKS THINK NOTHING OF IT, YUKA AYASE! YOU AND YOUR COMRADES ARE YOUR RACES LAST HOPE! DO NOT FAIL OR MY LORD YHVH WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! I'M SURE THE MORNING STAR WOULD BE AS WELL!" Metatron vanished, leaving his parting words and gift to Ayase.
"What the hell is HE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT?!"
"Mistress, he is referring to Lucifer and YHVH wanting to take this world for themselves for years but are not allowed. Therefore if Takahisa Knadori succeeds and destroys your race, this world, this earth holds less value for the Demon World, Heaven, Hell, and even Purgatory." Freyr voice was gruff and German.
"I've heard those names to many times today!"
"Do not worry, Mistress they have no relationship to the situation at our laps. All angels speak of their Lord and the different realms."
"So, the whole time he was talking shit that didn't even make a difference (A/N: It will matter way later in another novelization of this serious. SO just keep them in mind for later please)?! WHAT THE HELL?!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Welcome! It's a pleasure to meet you!" A voice, Reiji could not identify with any tone or affection called. He was pacing on the levitating plateau in this endless abyss he had landed in. The other man on the platform was, cloaked in the shadows and let Reiji's see only his bat-like wings and scarlet pupils.
"Where the hell is this? Who the hell are you?" Reiji questioned, wanting the answer to why he had gone from collecting money from beating all of those guys in a brawl to here.
"Not important! I have a test for you! State your name!"
"Reiji Kido!" He snarled. "Now answer me, bastard!" He balled his fists.
"Good, good! You remember your name! You are perfect, Reiji Kido! Perfect!"
"You're really startin' to piss me off!"
"Splendid! Now, tell me if you are aware of the many selves within yourself!"
"Okay, guess I'm gonna have to beat it outta ya!" Reiji charged the shrouded, winged man and battered him with a flurry of punches. He stopped when he realized his blows weren't connecting. He clearly saw them hit him, but they did not feel like they were. He pulled back his fist and nailed the side of the man's cloaked face with a roundhouse kick. In his momentum, he spun on the ball of his heel and landed a snap kick to his abdomen.
"Shit! What the hell are you?!" Reiji's kicks did nothing as well, causing the boy to back away.
"Violence is your instinct, that is splendid, Reiji Kido. I've seen your demonstrated performance! You fought those other degenerates over petty cash like a monster in human skin."
"How the hell did you see us?! That alley was deserted and the brawl was done less than five minutes ago!"
The man's red eyes red the sky. "Ah, yes, I see it, your past. I was correct. A minor confliction, but it will not change my proposal. You fight for revenge for the man who wronged you. This is my proposal." The man open his palm in the shadow, a miniature of a gothic-style medieval knight with a blood-stained-forged sword for a hand appeared in a flash of crimson. The knight was crouching, paying respects.
"What the shit is that?" Reiji was sweating.
"Accept the power I give you, the power to unleash the many selves within yourself. The selves effused with demonic cruelty. The selves whimpering with divine love. You mortals live by wearing different masks. I can see your current self is the countenance of a man who has been wronged. The mask of a man whose soul had been stewed in hate. This may be one of innumerable masks, but I think you know it is your true self." The miniature disappeared, Reiji feeling a sensation of piercing.
"I offer you this power, become my Knight of Chaos! Become the servant to the King! Close your ears to logic and embrace your inner desires! Love the chaos! Fill your soul with disaster! You'll become my Knight, Reiji Kido! Now return to your proper time and place!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Sire! Sire, arise!"
"SHUT UP, BRES! I JUST FELL DOWN A SHAFT! I'M LUCKY MY SPINES IN ONE PIECE!"
"Sire, open your eyes, please."
"You showed me that memory in my sleep again didn't you? I thought I told you to do two things: never speak to me and NEVER show me that shit again. I don't need to remember how I got this power ever night."
"But, sire, that dreams is relevant for your growth. You need to understand the man's true intentions."
"Stop talking! I know the dude was Butterfly Mask's competitor, whatever his name is. I don't care!"
"But, sire, he was deceiving you! You surely had to see it! He wanted to take control of you with the Alignment Dogma and your intentions!"
"Yeah, Bres, I understand! Now, leave! I'm waking up!"
"Sire, you do not understa-"
"LEAVE!" Bres ceased his speech. "JESUS! Finally, peace and quiet!" He exclaimed, coping to the strobe glare of the lightening as he woke up in the room he fell to.
He popped four pills for the bruising on his ankles he discovered. "I must've passed out after the fracture. Shit, that sucks. Glad I have the medicine on me." Reiji noticed his surroundings. "Kandori really knows how to reuse the same design for every room, huh? This is god's era architecture, marble and granite. Now, where's the stairs. I have to get back to those idiots before they get killed by that dragon. I'm gonna flip shit, if Masao got his ass shocked and burnt after I fell the equivalent of three stories so both of us didn't end up with our legs broken."
"Sire, you're not alone!"
"BRES!" Reiji was frustrated with his Persona's constant chatter.
"Macabre and dreadful aura behind you, Sire!"
"Hi, Mister!"
"A little girl? HERE?! You're worried about a kid, Bres?"
"Sire, she is no child. Her aura is dreading. Can you not feel it, Sire?"
Reiji noticed the girl casually standing ten feet away from him tying the straps to the sash band around the waist of her light purple sundress. She then went to check her buckle-up dress shoes. After her double check of her shoes, fluffed the ends of her neck-length blonde hair. "Yeah, she's menacing all right? Jesus, Bres, you are a pussy."
"Sire, please, do not approach her!"
"Hey, kid, what's your name!" Reiji asked, taking a half-step to the girl.
The girl curled her fingers around each other behind her back. She swung them to Reiji, two dolls magically appearing in her hands. "I'm Alice, Mister." Her voice was excited.
She jiggled the doll of a balding Caucasian man in a pricy red tuxedo garb. Her lips pouted. "This is Count Red, I call him Uncle Red." She was sullen.
She brought up the second doll, continuing to pout. "This is Baron Black, I call him Uncle Black." She introduced the doll of a hairy-headed African man dressed in a suave black butler attire. Her melancholy at her introductions was easily identified.
"Names her dolls, introduces them as if they're real people. Told me her first name, not her last. Yeah, this is a little kid. Guess her mother never told her to talk to strangers."
Reiji straightened his stance. "Alice, what's a kid like you doing here?"
Alice replied quickly. "Miss Aki said I was suppose to boss the demons around. It's funny, Mister!"
"Boss the demons around? This brat? She knows Aki too. How does that work?" Reiji was off-kilter at Alice's statement.
"Hey, Mister, what's your name? I told you mine, so it's only fair if you tell me yours."
"Uh, Reiji…" He stammered preoccupied. "Is she really evil like Bres said? If she knows Aki and she was at the bottom of the rabbit's hole trap set up, maybe she is my enemy."
"Curiouser and curiouser isn't it, Sire. Perhaps I had weight to my argument."
"What? You wanna cookie, Bres? One that makes you bigger, huh?"
"I think it would be appropriate to watch your opponent, Sire."
"Please, Bres, she's playing with Tweedledee and Tweedledum in her hands and she's dressed so properly, like she's going to a tea party or something, I doubt she'll fight dirty."
"Sire, the odds of here being a cut-throat demon and not as kind as a march hare or door mouse are very slim."
"Does she look like a griffin to you Bres? Does she look like she can maul me or take my head off?"
"Hey, Mister, I have another question for you?"
Reiji dismissed Bres' conversation "Huh? Yeah, what, kid?"
The next six words that came out of Alice was a sentence you'd hope a young girl of a seven-year old appearance would never utter. "Could you please die for me?" Her question was not miss-matched, miss-comprehended, or a mistake. Alice meant it entirely.
"Holy shit! A little girl just asked me to die for her?!"
"Is she not malicious, Sire? Can you sense it now?"
"Shut up, Bres! I'm just gonna tell her no. She can't be that dangerous."
"Man's last words, Sire."
"Pipe down!" Reiji hooked his thumps to his pants pockets. "Sorry, kid, can't do that. I have business to take care of. For starters, how to get out of this room. Do you know where the staircase is?"
"You won't do what I ask?" Alice collapsed to her porcelain knees. She girl acted heart-broken, deathly hurt. She began to cry, waving her dolls. "WAAH! You're so mean! You're so mean!"
"Well-done, Sire."
"COME ON! I'm the bad guy! She just asked me to die for her? What the shit was I supposed to say: SURE, HAPPY UNBIRTHDAY!"
Alice stared at Count Red, the Black Baron's fingerless hands wiping her tears at her control. "Uncle Red, listen! That big boy, Reiji, was so mean to me!"
She put Count Red ahead of her face. Her cracked, upset voice was replaced with a imitation of a gentlemen's voice, deprived of her crying and shrillness. "There, there…what's the matter, Alice?"
She moved the doll and was automatically returned to crying and shrillness. "You see…sniff…I…sniff…asked that big kid Reiji…sniff…to die for me…sniff…but he wouldn't do it! WAAH! I wanted him to die! I asked him nicely, Uncle Red! WAAH!"
Baron Black took the stage, borrowing Count Red's voice. "Do you have any idea what you have done?! You have just crushed the meager dreams of a little girl under the heel of your boot!"
Count Red masked Alice again, replying to her. "I see, I see. There, there, now, Alice. Don't you worry! Uncle Red will see to it that you get your wish!"
Baron Black made a short visit. "Don't worry, Alice, we'll make it so you never have to stop smiling!"
"She's got good crocodile tears and puppet show, but she still just a demonic-ish kid, right, Bres?"
"Sire, I did not jest when mentioning her aura was macabre and dreadful. I do believe she wants you gone and either she'll do it herself or those dolls will."
"As if I'll be done in by a brat's dollies? I have a bastard brother ass to kill, I don't have time for this shit!"
"Listen, Alice, I don't have time for games! Tell me where the stairs are?"
Alice hopped to her feet, scorning Reiji. "DIE FOR ME!"
"HOLY SHIT! ARE THOSE CARDS?!" Descending from a puff of smoke was a relentless shower of card soldiers, labeled one to ten of hearts and spades, wielding war scythes and spears with their color-assigned hands and aiming with intent to skewer and run Reiji through with their hooded heads. The kanjis and characters of Mudo embodied them along with the purple energy. They stabbed and sliced in fives, wave after wave launching from the bottomless puff Alice had called to attack.
Reiji felt the permanent sting of cards flying at him, their sharp weapons breaking and cutting through his school coat to his bare chest and knuckles including the rest of his figure. "HOLY SHIT! This hurts, goddamn it! Even after the first wave falls and disappears a second wave immediately hits me at speeds I can't begin to comprehend! FUCK! How the hell does this even work?! I can sense the Dark in the Skill! HOW IS IT EFFECTING ME?!"
Alice grinned, playing with Count Red and Baron Black as her Die for Me! poured and soaked Reiji in card soldier upon card soldier. She gained a full-on smile as the war scythes caused his lacerations to spurt and the little clothing he wore to be mucked.
"Shit…AH! I can feel it, now, Bres! DAMN IT ALL! I can see it…UGH…on her face! Nothing but murderous intent in her eyes! AGH!"
"AGH! Yes, Sire, she is formidable, and her aura is quite intimidating! Her murderous intent fuels this special Dark Skill! It is penetrating my Nullification to Dark! If is was not straining my statistics to one-hundred percent, Sire, these spears would have surely immediately reduced you to chunks of meat!"
"I can't last much longer, Bres! I can't even move! This kid really wants me dead, each time the spears plunge, I can feel her glaring into my soul." Reiji forgot the rain of strokes avoiding his skull and savagely abusing the rest of his figure. "Her eyes are like mine! Some one whose been wronged and looking for revenge!"
"Sire, I can feel the Dark dwindling! I'll stress my miniscul power to it's limits! I will not allow you to die, Sire! Do no worry!"
This boggled Reiji, the canals of his mind wringing, the fast stings buffed to righteous torture. "Why would you do that?! AAH! SHIT! I been a asshole to you for the whole time!"
"Sire, you have to live to witness this girl's story! She is akin to you and your predicament! You can see it, I can sense it! You have to live to understand because she is what you are, Sire!"
Reiji gasped, incredulous, but then his teeth clenched, relief hugging him, his blood exhuming him. The card soldiers had stopped, leaving him to his own devices. The scarred boy's eviscerated fingers broke the childproof cap of his medicine bottle, his strength nearly crushing the plastic of the bottle. He jammed the bottle under his nose and chugged down half the container. The mediocre Dia substitutes mended his bones, sinews, and coat, his internal systems pressured to refresh the loss of fluids. He slowly crept away from the walking dead to a trodden teenage swept by a girl's infantile phantasmagoric Dark Skill.
"Oh, phooey, you didn't die for me!" Alice complained, channeling Aki and blowing a raspberry at Reiji, the boy slipping in posture. "I'll ask you nicely again. Okay, Mister?"
"I'm wobbling, my eyes aren't working so good, Bres."
"Your pain is my pain, Sire. It is running through me as well. We are in no shape or attire to fight her at our level."
"I have to understand her story, because she is what I am, right, Bres? You referring to her want for revenge? How do I ask her to tell me a story when she wants me to die?!"
"It is not my expertise, Sire. Try asking her a question of any sort. I do believe she is about to ask you to die for her again!"
"Okay, Mister, will you please die-"
"HOLD ON!" Reiji yelled. "Question of any sort? What's the first thing that pops into your head, Reiji?! Related to Alice!" Reiji spoke at the first idea he held. "Uh…eh…who…are…uh…those dolls?"
"Uncle Red and Uncle Black, silly,"
"Uh, I mean…" Reiji stammered. "Why…are…they…uh…your uncles?"
Alice was silent.
Reiji was flustered. "Well, she isn't asking me to die so I hoped I dodged a bullet with my random question."
"I died, Mister."
"Eh?"
"I died a long time ago. I was a human girl." She raised Count Red and Baron Black. "Uncle Red and Uncle Black brought me back and adopted me. They did everything I asked and always made me happy. They cared for me, Mister, but one day a big boy came to our place and killed Uncle Red and Uncle Black, he wouldn't die for me either. So, I made these dolls because I miss them so much and I promised to find the brown-haired boy who killed my Uncles and have him die for me. It's what he deserves! For taking them away from me! For taking them away and leaving me all alone! I had no one, but myself! So, I promised to find him and do what he did to them and any demon, angels, or human in my way would die for me!" Alice hugged her Uncles, tears flowing.
"Those aren't fake. Shit, this kid is just a kid. She just was involved in this because of those Uncles of her and then she was involved in this because Aki felt she could command the demons we had to fight. This is messed up. This kid had her live ahead of here and it was corrupted because of two men and now she's a demon in body and abilities, but a kid at heart."
"Reminiscent, yes, Sire."
"Not really…"
"What about you, Mister?" Alice had stopped crying. "Why are you here? Miss Aki said you were here to kill her daddy, like that brown-haired boy did to mine?"
"Heh," Reiji replied, humorlessly rubbing his "X" scar. "I'm not gonna lie, kid….I am here to kill that bastard. You see I got my own reason for it."
"Why, Mister?"
"If I don't tell you, I have to die for you won't I?"
"Uhuh!" She smiled a creepy smile.
"Kandori didn't kill anyone close to me, kid. He ruined my mother's life. He twisted his father's love to a bitter hatred and turned him against the woman he loved. They both used her up and threw her away like thrash with me in her arms. When I was an infant, he dug his will right on my forehead, marking me with a "X" to say I was unwanted. I hated him, I grew up hating him, because…" Reiji swallowed. Had he said this to the others when he explained his past? Should he tell this strange girl named Alice? He opted to tell her. "Because he destroyed my mother's life, I rant on and on how he wronged me, destroyed my life, but I'm making excuse so I don't have to tell the truth. I want to kill that bastard because he and his father made my mother cry all her life. She had to carry a burden no one should carry alone and all I did was make it difficult for her. All I wanted was a way to reach the tower he stood on, just to knock him down. I didn't give a shit what and who blocked my path, I'd tear down the wall, knock off the guard….kill…the decent guy wanted nothing but to save his town..."
Reiji paused, remembering his pact and the others fighting alone above him. He reheard Naoya Todo's and Masao Inaba's words over and over: "Get disgusted or don't, dude, but we have to go back together for now. Cause' we're all after the same thing."
"Inaba,"
"Your no longer that Reiji, all this time you've run your mouth saying the same thing over again, throwing aside all other innocent lives for your own objective, not caring what happens to anyone else in the process. You're a selfish man! You're no better than Kandori! You have become the man you wish to kill! You have become Takahisa Kandori!"
"Kirishima,"
"You should know I value you as a comrade to help this battle against Kandori. This is as much your fight as it is ours."
"Four-Eyes,"
"We're companions, Reiji, I would say we could be friends. I know I cannot talk you out of wanting to kill Kandori, but I want you to be part of this group. I want you to come with us."
"Punk,"
"You are The Devil, Reiji Kido, you are selfish, impulsive, and violent. You are a slave to you own desires, obsessed with vengeance against a man who has wronged you."
"Long-nosed bastard,"
"I offer you this power, become my Knight of Chaos! Become the servant to the King! Close your ears to logic and embrace your inner desires! Love the chaos! Fill your soul with disaster! You'll become my Knight, Reiji Kido!"
"That winged bastard,"
"I am a devil, aren't I Bres? Alice and I are the same, hungry for vengeance with a pile of corpses in our wake. Damn…you were right."
"So, you're like me, Mister Reiji? You want to kill the guy who made your mommy cry."
"Yeah, originally…now I'm not sure…"
"What do you mean, Mister Reiji?"
"Alice…do you feel lonely? When your Uncles were killed did you feel boxed in by yourself."
"Uhuh, you bet, Mister."
"I did too, you know what I found out recently?"
"What mister? Are you still lonely like me?"
"No, I figured out I did it to myself."
"I don't get it, Mister. Are you almost ready to die for me, now?"
"One last thing Alice…you wanna catch your Uncles' killer, right?"
"YEP! He's gonna pay! He's gonna die!"
"Wouldn't it be better for him to suffer?"
She titled her head. "What, Mister?"
"If you kill him, he won't truly know what he did to your Uncles' right? Wouldn't it be better that he isn't given a instant death, instead has to suffer punishment for the crimes he's committed against you."
"I see you've opened your eyes, Sire. I am proud of you."
"Maybe, it depends! Will he have to remember what he did everyday for as long as he lives?"
"Definitely, every single day he'd pay for what he did."
"YAY! I wanna do that! I wanna do that!" She jumped in glee.
"Sire, I see where you are going with this?"
"If Sonomura can get that annoying snowman to join her, I'll help Alice out. The kid just needs someone, like-"
"Like you have now, Sire."
"Yeah, Bres, took them right outta my mouth." Reiji crouched to Alice's level, her face dumbfounded in excitement. "Alice, I plan on doing that to Kandori, I want him to know my mother's suffering. He'll pay for the crimes he's done, he won't be quickly lifted of his punishment."
"Why do you want it, Mister? You wanted to kill Aki's daddy when you told me your story?"
"I made a decision in my heart, Alice. I realized this Kandori has done the worst he could and gained power to bring about even worse fates to the peoples I care for right now including my mother. I can't let him get away easy for threatening her along with my race. It's my goal to bring Kandori down from his throne and status as a god, not to bring a righteous death to him by annihilating myself and others in the process, but to have justice serve him his righteous tormenting fate to him. Not for what he did to my Mom and me, but what he did to my nakama and my planet."
A shatter of glass was heard in Reiji's mind. "Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of DEATH! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated rebirth and regeneration into a new state after loss and sadness! Thou hast earned his Ultimate DEATH, Mot the God of Death!"
"Wait, WHAT? Death Arcana, Bres you're a Devil? How did, what the, who the, GODDAMN IT, I DON'T KNOW!"
"This is a issue for Igor of The Velvet Room, Sire. You should make the contract with Alice before we combat the revelation."
"You're right." Reiji sighed. "Alice, I want you to-"
"I wanna come with you, Mister Reiji!"
"WHAT?!"
"You have been awestruck numerous times today, Sire."
"Shut up, Bres." Reiji returned to his normal stance. "What do you mean you want to come with me?"
"You're like me, Mister Reiji! I know you're a Persona User, I wanna be you're Persona!"
"Didn't you want to find your Uncles' killer? Why do want to go with me?"
"Was that not intention though, Sire."
"I wasn't thinking it be this simple, Bres. Now, shut up."
"If I'm with you Mister Reiji, since you're like me, we can play together forever and we don't have to be lonely anymore! You can help me make the killer suffer!"
Reiji face palm. "What are the odds she wants to come with me because she thinks she'll find the killer?"
"Also, Mister Reiji, if I'm with you I know you'll care for me." She was blushing.
"HUH? WHAT?"
"Another for the tally, Sire."
"NOT EVEN GONNA-"
"Alice, what are you saying?"
"You spoke kindly to me, Mister Reiji, Uncle Red and Uncle Black always spoke kindly to me. You told me what to do to there killer for him to die for me forever and it made me smile. Uncle Red and Black always made me smile. If I'm with you as your Persona, we'll always be together and we can help each other bring the bad guys to our justice! You'll be my new uncle, Uncle Reiji!"
Reiji face palmed again. "Awesome, now I'm an adoptive father. This is not how it turned out in the plan."
"You'll do fine, Sire."
"It has no meaning to say it anymore."
"Uncle Reiji! Earth to Uncle Reiji! Will you offer me the pact if you have a Spell Card?"
"Yeah, I got one. How'd Sonomura say it?" Reiji pondered Jack Frost's pact. "I offer you, Alice, to become one of my Personas."
"If you want me to become your Persona, Uncle Reiji you need to make me laugh? It's part of my negotiation."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"This is demon negotiating, Sire."
Reiji approached Alice, who was awaiting the hysterics with Count Red and Baron Black. "Good thing I have a few parlor tricks from the old book in my sleeve."
"Hey, Alice, you have something behind your ear." Reiji cupped the lobe.
"Really?!"
"Yeah and it looks like ten-yen." Reiji amused the girl with his magic trick, showing her the copper ten yen covered in lint from behind her ear. (A/N: Reiji does magic tricks in demon negotiating in the actual game BTW)
Alice laughed. "That's funny, Uncle Reiji. You pulled a coin from my ear."
"The normal response is amazement, didn't think she'd giggle."
"Next, for me to become your Persona, the last condition is I need a Hiranya."
"A Hiranya? What's that?"
"A food that cures ailments, duh."
Reiji face palmed for the third time, his sweat dropping. "I can't win can I. How is it she wants to come with me and I have to whoo her and fetch for her."
"Sorry, kid, all I got his gum. This'll have to do." Reiji offered her one of the sticks of bubblegum, unwrapping it for her. "Chew it and then get in the card, because this is all I have."
"Let's see…" She hooked Baron Black with her other doll under her right arm to snatch the stick and pop it in her mouth. She chewed rapidly and then blew a bubble in Reiji's face, splattering bits of the substances all across his chin and forehead. "HAHAHA!"
"Side-splitting entertainment all right!" Reiji picked the flecks of gum off his face, snarling. "Are you ready yet?"
"Yep, now I accept the pact to be a Persona of Uncle Reiji's!"
A blank blue card emerged from Reiji's sternum and Alice was sucked in, portraying the card's depictions with her curtseying, her dolls bowing besides her. Her card was numbered XII, the Death Arcana Alice was of.
"Hey, Uncle Reiji!"
Reiji groaned, exhausted. "Hello, Alice."
"Good evening, Miss Alice."
"Oh, hello!"
"I am Bres, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Oh, God, now I have two of you talking in my head…goddamn it…"
"You are three-for-three on those as well, Sire."
"Shut u-"
"Hey, shut up, Bres."
"You know, I like her already. Now, Alice, where are the stairs? I have to hurry."
"Stairs? Sorry, Uncle Reiji, no stairs."
"COME ON!"
"No stairs, Uncle Reiji, BUT…there's a hall. That's where I came from. It's right in front of you."
Reiji found the twenty foot tall corridor. "Oh! I really have to work on my anger if I plan on keeping Kandori alive."
"A lot to manage if you do, Sire."
"Shut up, Bres!"
"Yeah, shut up, Bres!"
Reiji went to the hall Alice informed him of, a doorframe and door warping in front him. "WHAT NOW?!" The door flung open and Reiji's consciousness was drawn inside the portal of darkish blue that lead to the Velvet Room.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Welcome, Reiji Kido, it has been quite awhile since I've seen one of our guests."
Reiji scratched his neck, the Aria of Souls temporarily hypnotizing him. "What do you want, Long Nose? I've got shit to do!"
"Yes, of course, Reiji Kido, but I feel your soul has exorcised it's Chaos and blackened char." Igor retrieved his deck of cards from the arm of his chair and rested them on the table. "I'd like to read your true Arcana, Reiji Kido."
Reiji stomped. "It's Death, Long Nose! I had one of those stupid revelations the others had."
Igor tapped the deck. "Surely, you must be curious as to why your revelation did not effect your current Persona."
Reiji was curious. "Can you make it fast, Long Nose? I have a hunch those idoits are getting there ass-kicked right about now and I don't even wanna think about Blondie's situation."
"Your aggression is expressed, Reiji Kido. Now let me explain the details. Bres is a Persona given to you by Master Philemon's competitor, he is of the Devil Arcana, inherit to it. You Reiji Kido when given the ability called Persona was following the path of life known as the Devil and aligning yourself with Chaos. Your resolution to yourself was not of the Devil Arcana, you did not react preferably or prominently to the Devil Arcana. This is why Bres has not evolved. Instead of the Devil Arcana, your resolution related to the Death Arcana hence why you were capable of handling the strength of Alice which you hold in you."
"The voice said I have earned my Ultimate Death. How do I use that, Long Nose? If Bres won't change and I have the right to use it, no doubt it's ridiculously powerful like everyone else's, how can I use it?"
"You are lucky, Reiji Kido, you have acquired a Persona of the Death Arcana at such a high level of experience." Igor pulled a cellular phone made of bones and teeth, a radio antenna protruding from a row of lower teeth, from his shirt. "Belladonna and Nameless sing and play the enchantment to prevent violence within the Velvet Room, the Aria of Souls is the Poem of Everyone's Soul, is soothes you and let's your Personas become available for other methods of usage. My role as the proprietor of the Velvet Room is help our guests utilize the Personas they have gain in their travels and journeys and fuse them together to make much stronger facades of protection, Reiji Kido."
"Fusion?!" He gasped. "Taking two of them and putting them together, is that what you're saying?!"
"Yes, Reiji Kido, I can perform fusion to Personas. You revelation has permitted your soul to control your Ultimate Death, I can give you your Ultimate Death without evolution by taking the two Personas you hold now and fusing them together."
"Bres and Alice? You can make my Ultimate Death from them?!"
"The process has begun." The phone was to Igor's pointed ear; the voice on the other side bringing him to the verge of tears. To Reiji surprise, the Persona cards containing a depiction of Bres and Alice shot out of him in sparks and landed behind Igor, the knight and girl fully materializing in the room.
"Holy shit! You did it, Long Nose! Now hurry and fuse em'!"
"Reiji, I will warn you, the Compendium used to store the current status and replication of Persona is not at my disposal to use. That means you can never again bring these Personas to the sea of soul again. You may never be able to retain them again in your journeys forward either. Do you still wish to take the risk and continue? Tell me and I will proceed with the Persona Fusion."
"I'll never be able to see either of them again and there's a slim chance I might not be able to take them back? Are you serious?!"
"He is, Sire." Bres commented, Alice pouting.
"Bres, I can't...damn it, here is the first and last time I'll welcome your advice, Bres! Tell me what to do..."
The knight bowed, setting his sword-hand on his thigh. "Sire, my advice suited you prior, today you are taller than my advice can reach. I will part ways with you if it means you are to succeed. I want to see you follow this new path of life without me, Sire. It was a honor to be you, Reiji Kido. I am proud of you, myself."
Reiji grimaced. "Thanks, Bres. I'm sorry for being a dick for so long."
"It is nothing, myself."
"Wait, Uncle Reiji? You can't just get rid of me! You just took me in! You can't kick me out!"
"Alice…kid…we did just meet and shared details about myself to you because you and I are alike. I can't promise you we'll see each other again or promise I can take care of you for all of my life, but I can promise I'll remember you for as long as I live. That'll be my punishment, Alice. All right? My punishment for asking you to become part of my selfish desires, to become my Ultimate Death, I'll feel guilt everyday and remember your story for the rest of my life. I promise you that. I'll promise when I bring Kandori down for his punishment, I'll remember you. That way when you on your own again, Alice, and you're looking for the brown-haired boy, you don't have to be lonely any more, because I'll remember you no matter what happens!"
Bres was sobbing. "Reiji Kido, you have grown different and remained the same. Sire, Reiji Kido, myself, you are a man of many masks, a man with many emotions, a man of many mannerism, but you are not a Knight of Chaos, you have aligned with Law. I can see it."
"Bres, is right, Uncle Reiji. I'll do it for you too, Uncle Reiji! My punishment will be I'll have to remember you too for my eternal lifespan even when I find the brown-haired boy! I promise if you do! It's my punishment for wanting to help you beat Aki's daddy! I'll give you my Die for Me! You'll beat the bad guy! Now promise with me, Uncle Reiji, pinky promise that we'll never feel lonely again!"
"Heh," Reiji clasped pinkies with the purple-clad girl. "I promise to always remember you Alice until the end!"
"I promise to always remember you too, Uncle Reiji!"
"We won't feel lonely ever again." They both said.
Reiji went to Igor, swallowing his regretful thoughts, keeping Alice on his mind. He may have met her in what was fifteen minute, she may had tried to kill him, but they we're identical. They both were wronged because life was unfair and dealt them a hand they couldn't accurately play. In life for Reiji and death for Alice both beings were trapped in a vague fog of companion less and comfortless and the single goal through the fog was the source of their perdition and style of character they put on. In the fifteen minutes they had met, these two connected and exchanged their pain by the forms of words and sentences. The fifteen minutes was enough for the two to understand each other, to see the soul of the other, the intentions of each other, the exposed inner repression of long-last anguish and arrant animosity. "We're ready, Long Nose. Fuse them…please…".
"I will, Reiji Kido, you had changed for the better if I may say. You may retain your rougher charastics but your soul is clearer. Your should be proud as well."
"Do it, please, before I change my mind." Reiji growled. "Fuck, I can't watch this! I'm a pussy, I'm a high-strung bastard, I'm a damned girl! If Inaba did any of this shit, I'd bust his balls. This isn't me, but the me I was back when all I was was a self-destructing douche bag wasn't me either. I have to find a balance between this Chaos and Law thing. I need to keep my anger in check and my soft side well-distributed or else I'll hate my existence."
"Done, Bres of the Devil Arcan and Alice of the Death Arcana, have given rise via fusion to Mot, the God of Death, your Ultimate Death Reiji Kido."
Reiji turned around, having looked away from the process. A card depicting a sealed shut Babylonian coffin shifted in midair and into Reiji. "That's it? Mot is mine to use now?"
"Yes, and he's seemed to have inherited Alice's Die for Me! Skill. He is passed her level of experience as well. You shall be able to wield him in however you want, Reiji Kido."
The reward for what he lost was bittersweet. "I'm leaving, Long Nose. I have business to take care of and a girl to remember for the rest of my life!" Reiji kicked in the exiting door that had appeared, leaving the denizens of the strange stage governed by the god Philemon and his assistant Igor.
"Farewell, until we meet again…"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
(A/N: Reference to Nocturne because it's awesome. Just a little reference nothing special, it goes with the explanation regarding how copies of the same demon and god can show up everywhere at different times and games and stuff, bull shit excuse roll with it please.
He is indeed a Rumormonger in P2: Innocent Sin, we'll get to that when we get to that.
In order (remember using Google Translator): Sun Dance, Agidyne Solar Rose, Rose Setting Sun
Lastly this Alice is heavily influenced and based on the FIRST Alice that appeared in Shin Megami Tensei, hence the Count Red and Baron Black dolls. Btw the brown-haired boy was the Hero of SMT (goes by many names by many reference books: I'll call him Kazuya) It's not important, the concept of Reiji taking care of her is foreshadowing for P2: Innocent Sin and the relation to the infant in his future that was predicted by Norn was semi-related to him taking Alice with him for that short period. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 24: Deva Yuga Part 3: Kandori